Tessa Lee, managing director of adviser fintech support firm Moneyinfo, looks at AI lessons she's learned and how planners can begin to unlock the benefits of AI step by step.

I was on a Teams call recently with a prospective client, a conversation full of insight and next steps.

Normally I’d spend an hour replaying notes and writing a follow-up. But this time, I used Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft's AI tool). It transcribed the meeting, summarised key themes, and suggested action points. All I had to do was sense-check and personalise.

This brought it home for me. AI wasn’t about replacing what I do, it was about creating time to focus on the work that matters.

At Moneyinfo, we’ve been exploring how AI can support us right across the business. We’re excited by what it can do – but our eyes are wide open. There’s huge potential, but only if you take the time to build in structure and safeguards.

We didn’t roll AI out to everyone from day one. We started with the management team, testing use cases in a controlled environment. It gave us space to explore what worked, where the risks were, what training the wider team would need.

We looked at each use case carefully, ensuring it lined up with our information security policies. We checked how data would be handled, who could access what, and where the risks might be. If AI was going to be part of how we work, it had to respect our controls, not find ways around them.

AI is great at day-to-day heavy lifting. It helps us summarise meetings, draft content and research, taking pressure off admin and giving the team more space to focus.

But just because you can, doesn’t mean you always should. Some things still need human judgement, empathy and creativity. Our approach is simple. AI supports process but people stay in control of the outcome.

We’ve written an internal AI policy to guide how we use it responsibly. Everyone has training on prompting, reviewing content and understanding where the limitations are.

Nothing client-facing goes out without a human sense-check. We’ve applied the same principles we use for any process or tool; clear oversight, good record-keeping and alignment with our values.

As a SaaS platform, we’re thinking carefully about how AI can support our strategy, helping us build better tools and deliver more value to advice firms and their clients.

We’re exploring where AI might assist our development team with tasks like code review or documentation in future, and how we can build AI features into the product, supporting onboarding, reviews and workflow automation, while keeping the adviser-client relationship at the heart of it.

In client service, AI can help us respond more quickly and consistently, making sure firms get the right support when they need it. As we move forward, trust, privacy and transparency will remain essential.

Practical advice for financial planning and wealth firms

Start with a problem you want to solve. Whether it’s onboarding, meeting prep or admin, AI can help, but only if you’re clear on what you want it to do. Begin somewhere low risk. Summarise internal meetings, review provider updates, or draft team comms. Let people get familiar with how it works before using it with clients.

Put some simple guidelines in place. Write a short policy. Teach the team how to prompt well and sense-check the outputs. It’s quick, but not always right.

And if it still feels unfamiliar, try it at home. Ask it to plan a holiday or help with your to-do list. It’s a pressure-free way to build confidence.

Used well, AI won’t replace planners. But it will help you be more efficient, more focused, and better equipped to deliver the kind of service clients really value.

The firms that take the time to explore it now will be the ones shaping what comes next.

Tessa Lee is managing director of Moneyinfo, a fintech firm based in Warwickshire, specialising in client portals and mobile apps for the wealth management industry. She has more than 20 years’ experience working in financial advice and fintech and holds several CII Financial Planning qualifications.

https://www.moneyinfo.com/

@moneyinfotech 

Chartered Financial Planner Susan Hope, a business development director at Scottish Widows and a pensions advocate, writes about how, as National Insurance changes take effect, salary exchange (also called salary sacrifice), could be a new opportunity for Financial Planners. 

Former Financial Planner turned author and consultant James Woodfall explains how emotional intelligence works and how Financial Planners can utilise the benefits of EI to understand their clients better.

With so many other challenges facing the wealth management sector, from legacy technology to developing compelling products and services, why are firms turning their attention to complaints?, writes Kate Monserrate, co-founder of advice and wealth management business consultancy Simplify Consulting.

Investment expert Fraser Donaldson of Defaqto writes a regular column on DFMs for Financial Planning Today magazine, our sister publication and this is his latest column in the current issue to give you a taste of the column. To view Fraser's past columns and lots more content in the magazine register and subscribe to the magazine. If you are not yet registered for Financial Planning Today website do so now to find out more. Registration is free.

Investment expert Fraser Donaldson reviews the FCA's latest 'Dear CEO' letter on cash interest. Mr Donaldson, Insight Consultant at Defaqto, writes a regular column on DFMs for Financial Planning Today magazine with the latest column reproduced below. To view Fraser's past columns and lots more content in the magazine register and subscribe to the magazine. If you are not yet registered for Financial Planning Today website do so now to find out more. Registration is free.

Harry Katz, a retired Certified Financial Planner with more than 40 years experience in financial services, takes a sceptical look at recent concerns that HNW clients are facing a major problem due to rapidly rising Inheritance Tax (IHT) bills.

In recent times we've all seen the many reports about rapidly rising IHT bills, with the government seemingly raking in rapidly rising IHT receipts - at the cost of the taxpayer, of course.

All this implies that large numbers of people are being clobbered with big bills but is this really the case? Or is it just a case of scare-mongering when some simple basic financial advice and some realism would suffice to head off much of the problem?

These IHT bills, the common wisdom goes, are being paid by High Net Worth (HNW) clients but we should look at what we consider to be HNW. When I was working as an adviser I regarded HNW as anything over £1million in liquid assets.

These people certainly have wealth to transfer to the next generation but I have suspected for quite some time that, as irksome and egregious as this tax is, much of the angst has been promulgated by the providers. And many advisers also have been only too happy to climb onto the bandwagon in the hope of generating income.

I dealt with those who were considered better off for most of my career as an IFA. I have to admit that IHT was not a primary concern for the majority. Yes, there were those who were concerned, but solving their problems was never straightforward – if it could be solved at all.

Everyone is different, so there is no uniform solution that fits all. Trusts are all well and good, but mainly cater for those who do not trust their potential beneficiaries. I found that the best trust was the trust between family members.

So, what do we have? There are those (mainly in the South East) whose main asset is their house and they do not have that much in liquid assets. They may have a pension and the best solution here, in my view, is an annuity as it is very IHT efficient. So, what can you do with a house?  Sell it to convert it into cash and move to something smaller, or rent. Not a very popular solution. Move in with the kids. Possible, but again not for everyone.

Those with liquid assets well yes, you can give the assets away and hope to live seven years to avoid tax, but inter vivos insurance does work well in this case. I usually suggested that the potential beneficiaries paid the premium – after all they are the ones who will gain.

But mentioning lifetime gifts is often met with ‘gift aversion’ in my experience. Whole life is sometimes another favoured option, but on closer analysis it is not always cost effective. Take a 60-year-old in reasonable health (they have to be to get the cover at a decent rate). Life expectancy for a male, for example, is currently 80. If he survives, that equates to 20 years premiums. How does the total cost of these premiums compare to the tax saved? Favourably? Possibly...possibly not.

You also have to consider whether the client is getting richer or poorer if you want total cover. Then again it should be the beneficiaries who pay.  The most efficient result is if the client dies well before his typical life expectancy – hardly ideal for the client.

There are indeed other ways to ameliorate the tax, many of which do not involve using a ‘product’. In any event, the fact that HMRC enjoys greater and greater revenue in receipts from this tax is in fact (as we all know) a disgrace. Assets have been built up after tax has been paid and on death more tax is taken. Ghoulish.

But it would seem obvious to me that some of this tax is collected because the taxed have not sought decent financial advice. Let us bear in mind that the current nil rate is £325,000 – for a married couple this doubles to £650,000 and then there is residence nil rate of £175,000. So, on a £1 million house £175,000 is payable in IHT. But £825,000 is tax free. Better than a smack in the nose!

Anyway, as I often said to clients ‘Why worry about IHT – you’re not paying it and, in any event, 60% in the hands of your beneficiaries is better than nothing.’

With regard to the house there is the option of equity release, which is bound to be spotted by readers. But the HNW client is going to look at the figures and agree with me that this is just an egregious rip off. Shared equity is a little fairer than a lifetime mortgage but, at the interest rates quoted, the whole house would disappear financially in about 12-15 years. Equity release is very much a last resort and emergency measure and hardly appropriate for IHT planning.

Harry Katz is a retired Certified Financial Planner based in London

Simon Hodges, director of policy at STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), questions whether the current rules surrounding Inheritance Tax (IHT) are fit for purpose.

Richard Mattison, director at SSAS specialist Whitehall Group, comments on the scrapping of the Lifetime Allowance, the raising the Annual Allowance and the unintended consequences they could cause.

Experienced compliance consultant Tony Catt looks at the consequences for advisers of the FCA's new Consumer Duty which begins on 31 July.

For most advisers, the Consumer Duty is simply the latest effort by our regulator to get advisers to treat clients fairly and not rip them off. How hard can that be?

One of the things that I feel is of key importance is that advisers need to look at their own products – their advice process. This is not simply the process that involves – know your client, set objectives, do research, present and then implement. More importantly, and in my opinion more interestingly, this involves looking at their ongoing service and client reviews.

This originates with the IDD and fee agreements. Do the clients understand how and when they are going to pay the adviser for their service? More importantly, do they understand what they are going to get from the adviser in the future for that payment?     

This comes into the realms of segmenting clients into service levels. Traditionally, this has largely been done using size of funds as the criterion. This should really be done by time of life. So, you may have:

• young people getting established.
• People protecting themselves.
• People planning towards retirement.
• People at retirement.
• People in retirement.
• People planning for inheritance.
• People planning for long term care.

This list is not exhaustive and bear in mind that planning for most of those elements may not happen in that order. Most likely it may happen together and need to be prioritised into short-term and long-term goals. 

Anybody who has attended the FCA Live & Local events (strongly recommended) will know that the FCA differentiates between price and value. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

So, the blanket application of 0.5% - 1% in charges may not prove to be appropriate for many people – neither clients nor the adviser firm.

Someone with £1m invested will pay £5,000 per year. Someone with £100,000 will pay £500 per year. There will always be an element of cross-subsidy. This is accepted by the FCA. 

If an adviser values their time at £200 per hour, then the £1m client pays for 25 hours and £100k client pays for 2.5 hours. It depends how much the adviser does for a client, but neither of these figures are likely to be right for either of those clients.

Advisers need to do the exercise of working out how much time they actually spend with their clients. While this may take some time, it may prove worthwhile if it gives a more accurate valuation of the adviser’s time and therefore the value of the adviser firm.

Treating clients fairly does not mean giving them all the same service or charging them the same amount of money. This exercise may well lead to increased charges for clients and the FCA will not be concerned, if it can be seen that clients are receiving fair value.  

Do the exercise, you may be pleasantly surprised that you can reasonably increase your charges. The FCA needs adviser firms to be profitable to remain operating. Remember to keep the evidence of your consideration of this issue.

Tony Catt is compliance consultant at The Catt’s Eye View. He works as a freelance compliance consultant in Financial Services. His clients are mainly adviser firms. He is a member of the Association of Professional Compliance Consultants.

https://www.thecattseyeview.co.uk/

07899 847338 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.